Oh Brother!
by Chibi Halo
Summary: This is the story of two brothers separated by death, reincarnated by fate, and loved by the same woman.  This is the story of Mamoru Chiba and Ranma Saotome who discover they have more in common than Nodoka Saotome.
1. The Nerima Connection

"Darling, I have some good news to tell you. We're going to have another baby," the elegantly regal woman announced to her husband with a content smile upon her face.

The husband smiled at his wife as he pulled her into a loving embrace. It was the greatest news he had heard in two years. He already had his heir but there was nothing that said he and his wife could not have any more children. In fact, the kingdom would be all the better for having either a princess or a second prince to rally behind. While the older child, Endymion, would rule the younger child would become a great protector.

"Your majesty, the delivery was a success. Your wife has given you another son," the royal midwife announced to the king and young prince.

Once more Endymion, ruler of the Earth, was a father and once more the fates had seen fit to give him a son. Looking down at his namesake the newly minted three year old prince was now a big brother. The brother his mother had given him would become his best friend, partner in battle, and commander of the royal guard.

"You're getting soft big brother," The younger prince commented with a chuckle.

"Can I help it if my mind is elsewhere Orion," Endymion responded with a small smile and a soft chuckle.

Pointing upwards the younger prince, Orion, revealed just where his brother's mind was, "Yeah your mind is on a certain golden haired princess. Face it Endymion you're a man in love yet the citizens of both kingdoms aren't thrilled with the betrothal and resulting alliance."

It should have been a joyous occasion when Endymion pledged Earth's undying support at the ball. Yet, with both princes at the ball the Earth kingdom fell far too easily. The sons of Gaia never had the chance to make it home as the four men they called their guardians attacked the Moon Kingdom under the orders of a Trojan War queen, who wanted both Endymion and his throne, allied with a dark power. In the end, both of the princes, the moon princess, her guardian senshi, and the citizens of the Moon Kingdom and Silver Alliance perished in battle. With her last dying breath, Serenity queen of the moon sent her daughter, her senshi, and anyone present at the ball that night to be reborn into a better future.

Oh Brother!

Part 1: Lonely Hearts

The magic of the crystal to reincarnate those who were in attendance on that fateful day was not strong enough to ensure family ties would remain in their next life. However, despite that one tiny technicality certain events would happen in the lives of the reincarnated princes that would give them a common connection. A woman with a heart as big as the Earth itself would have a hand in caring for both young men. Where one young man would leave a hole in her heart the other would help mend it.

It happened when her only son was just two years old. The moment Ranma Saotome spoke his first words and formed a very strong attachment to his mother Genma Saotome decided to begin training him in the family art. However, with the strong attachment to his wife, Nodoka, training Ranma was proving to be very difficult as the toddler refused to listen to his father. It was two years later that Genma decided to remove Nodoka from the equation and take a newly potty trained Ranma on the road for a very long training trip.

Nadoka Saotome was very lonely on the fateful August third night when the crash took his parents and his memory from him. It had been over a year since she had last seen Genma and her son Ranma. In an attempt to ease her mind and fill the need to care for others, Nodoka had taken to volunteer work at the local hospital. It was on that night when she first laid eyes upon the six year old boy. He was lost and alone the only survivor of the crash. When asked what happened the scared and confused little boy said he did not know and could not remember anything before waking up in the hospital save for three things: his name, his age, and his birthday.

It was a very somber sixth birthday for Mamoru Chiba but the dark auburn haired woman who volunteered at the hospital helped him get through it. Staying the entire night in his room, the woman, who called herself Nodoka, comforted him through several bad dreams. Mamoru mumbled in his sleep about finding a princess and someone named Orion. At first, Nodoka dismissed it but then Mamoru began crying out in his sleep for his mother and Orion. After calming Mamoru down several times she was now under the impression that Orion was the name of a beloved pet that had passed.

"He can't just go into a children's home. Mamoru-kun needs to be with a parental figure right now," Nodoka argued.

It was the day Mamoru Chiba was to go home from the hospital a month after the crash. Every day since the crash Nodoka had taken it upon herself to keep Mamoru company during his in hospital therapy sessions. He was still unable to remember if he had any family besides the parents he lost but the therapists were able to get the boy back on track with his basic skills. Because he was well enough to leave the hospital child services had come to take Mamoru to children's home to make him a ward of the state. However, Nodoka would not hear of it and insisted on taking the boy home herself.

"Besides, I need him in my life right now too," Nodoka muttered barely audible to the others in the room.

It took a lot of convincing but Nodoka Saotome had talked Child Services into letting her become a foster mother. Once more she had someone in her life to care for and teach.

"Nodoka-san, the doctor said I get to leave the hospital today. I don't have any family. Where am I going to go? Who's going to take care of me," Mamoru said with obvious fear in his voice.

Smiling brightly at the child Nodoka extended her offer to him, "I thought you could live with me. I have a nice home and a room waiting for a boy like you to sleep in it. I have a son but he's with his father now and I haven't seen them in a year. I could use the company and you could use a mother figure in your life. How about it?"

Mamoru thought about the offer for a moment before looking at her with a smile on his face, "I'd like that a lot Nodoka-san."

Ten years together. That's how long Nodoka had kept Mamoru Chiba in her care. Nodoka knew one day Mamoru would leave her care. She did not think that day would come when he was accepted into a boys' high school in the Azabu-Juban neighborhood of the Minta ward. Once again Nodoka would have to say goodbye to someone in her life.

"I'm going to miss you a lot Mamoru. You helped mend a painful place in my heart. Promise me you'll call," Nodoka said as she prepared to leave the modest apartment they had found for Mamoru.

"Don't worry Nodoka-san I'll call you every week and I'll visit you on breaks when I can," Mamoru promised.

For three years Mamoru had kept true to his word. Every Sunday evening he called and during every break he would make the train journey from Azabu-Juban to visit. And then, things began to change. First, came the tabloid reports of strange creatures attacking innocents within the Azabu-Juban neighborhood. Then, came the Sendai Hill bus incident with the missing girls on the evening news. Mamoru's promised calls to Nodoka began changing by the time of the state ball for the D Kingdom princess.

At first, the Sunday calls that had lasted at times an hour in length began to get shorter with each passing week. Then, Mamoru began skipping Sundays all together. When two weeks went by with no calls from Mamoru at all Nodoka took it upon herself to initiate the phone calls to her foster child. The visits during breaks went from the entire length of the break to a single day and then no visits at all. At that point, Mamoru had begun to shut Nodoka out of his life completely ignoring her calls all together.

All was not lost for Nodoka because a private investigator she had hired to find her long missing husband and son turned up good news once more. It coincided with police blotters about weird martial arts fights occurring within the nearby Nerima ward. The fights centered around a neighborhood where not too far from it was Furinkan High School. As good fortune and fate would have it, on the list of registered students was one Ranma Saotome.

It wasn't the first such time Nodoka received news like that. Every time Ranma's name appeared on the registry for a school she would receive a phone call. However, being responsible for Mamoru Nodoka could not investigate every possible lead to her son's whereabouts. The latest lead, however, Nodoka could follow-up on. Nerima happened to be where her husband's closest friend moved with his wife shortly after their marriage. If Genma would go anywhere for a period of time and not have to pay for housing it would be with Soun Tendo.

"What do you mean my husband and son are not here," Nodoka questioned the eldest of Soun's daughters.

"They decided to go on a short training journey again Auntie. I'm sorry but I'm sure if they had known you were coming they would have stayed," Kasumi explained as she served tea to Ranma's mother.

Nadoka let out a soft sigh in defeat. She knew why Genma was avoiding her. It was the pledge he had made the family sign. It had become the only way she would let Genma take her son on what she thought would just be a simple summer training trip to a temple in the mountains. Never in her life did she think it would take Ranma from her for thirteen years. It was only when Mamoru left for high school in Azabu that Nodoka began carrying the family honor blade with her.

"It's that pledge. That's the reason why my husband does not want to see me. His ideas on what is a man among men are probably still rooted in what I used to believe was manly. Twelve years apart can change one's view on honor and manliness," Nodoka commented before sipping her tea.

"I wish I could say you came during a time when Ranko and Mr. Panda were visiting again but they couldn't leave her father's farm," Kasumi replied as the bitter taste of the lie she and her sisters concocted with Ranma sat on her tongue.

Nodoka fought back the tears that wanted to form in her eyes. She knew something major had changed in her son's life because when she saw Ranko she saw herself. There was no way the girl was related to the Tendo girls. Nodoka knew Ranko had to be her son but she was not certain how or why he was now a girl whenever Ranko and Mr. Panda were at the Tendo home. It hurt too much knowing that both her biological son and the young man she came to love as a son were both refusing to see her.

"That's okay Kasumi, I can still enjoy a nice visit with you and your sisters," Nodoka told Kasumi with a small smile.

Life for Ranma and his mother continued in much the same fashion. Genma would panic when his wife was known to visit and either declare they were going on a training trip or go into hiding as Ranko and Mr. Panda. Ranma hated lying to his mother and she hated seeing Ranma, or Ranko as the girls called her, being driven to deception by her husband. However, as long as they were able to spend time together Nodoka would not press the issue figuring, like Mamoru, Ranma would contact her again in her own time.

It took six long months before Ranma was finally able to see his mother not as Ranko. After saving her life during one of the bizarre martial arts attacks in Nerima Nodoka Saotome declared her son to be manly and honorable despite his unique condition. After thirteen years, mother and son were reunited. Now all that was missing in Nodoka's life was Mamoru Chiba the boy she took into her home.


	2. My Mother's Secret

Life could not have been any better for Mamoru Chiba. He was about to enter into his second year at Keio University with his best friends Motoki and Reika studying for a medical degree. He had ten of the closest friends a guy could ever want. He was the reincarnated guardian of the Earth and its future ruler. And he had a great fiancé in Usagi.

With the threat of demons, monsters, aliens, and other assorted inhuman evils out of their lives Mamoru had decided the time was right to ask Usagi to marry him. The ring was not the most extravagant but Usagi loved it. For Usagi, it wasn't the size of the stone but the fact that it came from Mamoru that mattered. All that mattered in the world to the high school student was Mamoru Chibi and his happiness.

However, even though things were turning towards the better for Mamoru something was still missing from his life and it had nothing to do with being Endymion. At least Mamoru believed the missing part of his life was not related to Endymion. With his life back in order once more the time had come for Mamoru Chiba to bring his recent past and his present together.

"I don't know Motoki. I haven't talked to her since I was seventeen," Mamoru told his friend with a heavy sigh.

Motoki, who had been Mamoru's first friend after arriving in Azabu-Juban, knew who the her Mamoru mentioned was. Mamoru held the woman who took him in after he was hospitalized at six in very high regards. She was the mother he could never remember. Yet, after Reika was accepted into the foreign studies program to go to Johannesburg for a year Mamoru started to become distant and closed off. It was a period in their friendship that nearly brought it to an end.

"Things are going great for you now. You'd think the woman who treated you like her own son would want to know you got into the best pre-med program in the city and will be getting married in two years," Motoki reasoned with his friend while cleaning soda glasses at his parents' cafe and game parlor.

Mamoru let out a sigh with a smile at his friend. There were times when Motoki seemed to know Mamoru better than he did. Mamoru wondered if he and Motoki knew each other during the missing part of his life. The thought was pushed aside yet again with the reasoning that Motoki would have said something if they had been friends as young children.

"I guess you're right yet again. I've probably worried her enough these last three years. Not that she didn't have enough to worry about to begin with," Mamoru responded as his friend cleaned out another soda glass.

Oh Brother!

Part Two: My Mother's Secret

Ranma Saotome could not have been happier than he was at that very moment. A major problem in his life was gone. He still had his curse. The accidental knocking over of a cleaning bucket on top of his head at school had proved that. Nabiki was still in his life and still would be when Musashi University started their freshman term. Nabiki had decided to take late morning and early afternoon courses so she could live at home to save on living expenses. The Amazons were still working the Nekohantan. The government official with the Visa renewal had been proof they weren't about to leave Nerima.

No, Ranma was happy because Tatewaki Kuno was graduating from Furinkan High School. You could tell him Ryoga Hibiki had joined forces with the Musk and the Phoenix people and Ranma's demeanor would not change. You could tell him Shampoo was going to move into the Tendo family home and he would still be happy. You could even tell him that he was the long lost reincarnated brother of the crowned prince of a long dead kingdom and it would not remove the smile off his face.

"You know I didn't think you'd cause that much of a scene this morning when Kuno announced to Akane he was graduating," Ukyo commented at lunch that day.

"Hey can I help it if my life is starting to go better," Ranma responded to his childhood friend.

Things were getting better for Ranma since the failed wedding. Ranma's mother was back in his life, although he had to bunk in the dojo because of it. She was accepting of his curse. He and Akane didn't fight as much as they used to. Ukyo tried very hard to make amends with his parents for the incident at his mother's house. Akane tried hard to be friends with the female chef for Ranma's sake. And, Ryoga didn't attack him like he used to. Yes, life for Ranma Saotome was looking better.

However, there was the nagging feeling at the back of Ranma's head that something was going to throw a monkey wrench into things. It seemed the moment life was going good for Ranma someone or something came along to upheave everything. Change and chaos was as big of a nuisance in Ranma's life as his curse was.

"You do realize this means you're in for a major upheaval in your life again," Ukyo observed as Akane sat next to the two friends.

Akane heard the remark made by Ukyo and knew what the subject of the conversation had been. "Ukyo's right, things have been a little too quiet around here. I'm not saying some strange martial artist is going to show up and blow a hole through the wall of one of our houses again. I'm saying that it feels like something is going to change in our lives," Akane commented.

The last time Mamoru Chiba had stepped foot in the Nerima ward of Tokyo he was sixteen years old and about to start high school. Mamoru knew he was never originally from the Nerima ward but in the ten years he had lived with Nodoka Saotome Nerima was home. With his life at a point where he could focus on school, his friends, and Usagi Mamoru knew it was time to make good once more on the promise he had made to his foster mother. He knew it was time to let her back into his life after shutting her out for three long years.

It had taken some investigating and calling around after he found her home number disconnected but Mamoru found the forwarding address for Nodoka's mail. The address was clear across the other side of Nerima from where the home they shared had been. Through phone calls to the building department in Nerima Mamoru learned that Nodoka's home was pending a permit to be completely gutted and rebuilt from the inside out. It was the reason why she was currently staying at the forwarding address, a home currently belonging to one Soun Tendo.

It was to that particular neighborhood that the Toei subway line had taken Mamoru. It was a neighborhood that looked as though it has seen its fair share of crazy things in the last few years. Mamoru would have found it odd seeing the number of windows that were boarded up and roofs missing a few tiles here and there if he did not live in Juban. The two neighborhoods were nearly identical to one another with their cosmetic issues. The only thing that distinguished the closely packed neighborhood from Juban was the homes with their traditional Japanese style. Unlike Usagi's house these homes looked as though they came from two hundred years in the past. Stopping in front of the address on the paper he held within his hands Mamoru took in a deep nervous breath before walking through the front gate to knock on the front door.

"It's now or never Chiba. You had her worrying over you long enough," Mamoru thought aloud to himself as he stopped before the front door.

Kasumi was in the middle of cleaning the things from the modest lunch she had prepared for herself and her father Soun when the knock on the front door came. The house was nearly empty with Genma and Nodoka out for the morning looking for a way to afford the necessary repairs to the home Nodoka kept. At the moment, Soun was in the parlor near the shogi board reading the paper. Just as she had done many times before the twenty year old woman made her way to the entryway to open the front door.

"Just a moment," Kasumi called out figuring the knock had come from a delivery man or postal worker.

Opening the door Kasumi, who was wearing a soft yellow apron over a light blue button shirt and long floral skirt, was greeted by the sight of a young man in dark charcoal gray slacks, a French blue dress shirt with white cuffs and collar, and dark charcoal vest. He had dark hair and nervous look in his gray blue eyes but the most striking thing about him was the small gold hoop dangling from his left ear. Immediately Kasumi began to wonder what Ranma's father had done to wrong the young man and why he was standing at her doorstep.

"May I help you," Kasumi asked him showing common courtesy.

The young man let out a nervous breath before speaking to her, "I'm looking for a Nodoka Saotome. I was told that she was staying here."

Kasumi's curiosity was piqued when she heard he was looking for Ranma's mother and not his father. It was a rarity that anyone, outside of the insurance representative, would come looking for her. With her trademark smile upon her face Kasumi gave the young man the answer he had been hoping for, "Auntie Nodoka is definitely staying here with my family but I'm afraid she's out with her husband at the moment. If you have the time you can come inside and wait for her to return."

Mamoru's nervous feelings left the moment the young woman, who he assumed to be a member of the Tendo family who owned the house, invited him inside. The was something about her smile that he just could not say no to and with his shoes placed neatly beside the family shoe cubby Mamoru followed her into the house. Passing by a small parlor with a shogi board that appeared to have an ongoing game left on it Mamoru heard the sound of newsprint rustling before a forced cough caught the attention of his hostess who stopped to face towards the room.

"Kasumi who was at the door," a voice belonging to a man with long dark brown hair and matching mustache dressed in a brown dogi asked her.

The young woman Kasumi motioned to Mamoru gaining the elder man's attention towards him as she responded to the asked question, "This nice young man came to see Auntie Nodoka father. I invited him in so he could wait for her to return with Uncle Saotome."

Seeing the man he now knew to be Kasumi's father give him a good looking over Mamoru decided the proper course of action to take was to introduce himself to the pair. "I'm Mamoru Chiba sir and I knew Nodoka-san when I was a child. I used to live on the other side of the ward until I was sixteen when I moved because of school. I wanted to visit with her again since it has been three years since we last talked."

Kasumi's father gave Mamoru a small smile before returning the kindness, "It's an honor to meet you Chiba-san. I am Soun Tendo and this is my eldest daughter Kasumi. The rest of the household should be along shortly when school has let out for the afternoon."

Ranma's day after lunch, while not as event filled as they had been before the marriage attempt, was just the beginning of the major upheaval in his life Ukyo had predicted. Principal Kuno, in wanting everything to be perfect for the graduation of his Tatchi from Furinkan, demanded yet again Ranma cut off his braid. The mentally unstable Hawaiian addicted school administrator confronted and chased Ranma around the sports field during afternoon gym class with ancient looking barber sheers. Proving yet again that the Principal was weak where martial arts were concerned, Ranma was able to defeat him by period's end.

"You'd think that crazy nut of a principal would get the message by now that I'll never want my hair cut like that," Ranma commented as he hopped down from the fence still annoyed by the afternoon's events.

"Everyone knows the man isn't all that right in the head. From the way Kuno talks about him he cares more about his collection of leis and aloha shirts than his own kids," Nabiki commented as the trio entered into the entryway.

As she removed her shoes Akane announced their presence to whoever happened to be home at the time, "Dad, Kasumi we're home!"

Not gaining the usual immediate response from Kasumi Ranma and Akane carefully made their way to the living room to see if everything was okay in the house followed closely by Nabiki. The sound of a teacup being placed upon the low table had the trio thinking at first Kasumi had prepared tea for her father. What they heard and saw next took them all by surprise.

"It was Nodoka-san who insisted I take the test for Moto Azabu High School. I wouldn't be attending Keio University on scholarship in the medical school track if I hadn't passed the entrance exams," a slightly older male voice said.

Kasumi, in a very un-Kasumi-like manner, was having tea with the owner of said voice. It was not the casual way that Kasumi was chatting and smiling at the man who appeared to be her age that struck the trio as surprising but the constant use of the name of Ranma's mother from the visiting man. Jumping to conclusions as only he could Ranma immediately thought the man was some local guy who used to live in his mother's neighborhood and developed some type of childhood crush on her. Continuing his strange assumptions Ranma then thought the man believed his mother had been a single woman the entire time he knew her and was now trying to pursue some type of weird romantic relationship with her. And, in true Ranma Saotome foot in mouth style he confronted the unknown male.

"How do ya know my mom and just what do ya want with her bub," Ranma demanded to know as he prepared to knock some sense into the man if he said something perverted about his mother.

Mamoru turned to face the owner of the demanding voice that he was certain belonged to another member of the Tendo home. Soft gray blue eyes filled with a lifetime of pain, sorrow, and lost memories locked onto bright vibrant blue eyes filled with a wild confidence. In that one moment something tugged at the back of the minds of both men. In a shared thought the two young men swore they had both seen each other before and it was not from a photograph upon Nodoka Saotome's bookcase.

Shaking the thought out of his head and returning his focus on defusing the younger man's protective nature before things got out of hand Mamoru answered the question posed to him, "Nodoka-san took me in when I was six after I lost my parents when our car crashed. She used to volunteer with the kids at the hospital and took a liking to me because I had no family and no memories except my name and birthday."

Not quite believing Mamoru's explanation the younger man scoffed and stayed ready to fight if needed. "Yeah right, you were probably just some neighbor kid with a crush on her she used to babysit or something," he accused voicing his assumptions.

Mamoru was about to deny the accusations made by the younger man when a loud gasping breath and the sound of a paper grocery bag hitting the wooden floor came from the entrance to the living room. Looking over the younger man's shoulder Mamoru saw the stunned look of Nodoka Saotome as she stood next to a very confused looking plump man in a slightly dingy looking white dogi with wire rimmed glasses on his face and a powder blue bandana covering a balding head.

With a shaking hand Nodoka pointed a finger in Mamoru's direction and stuttered out a single word in complete shock and surprise, "M-M-Mamoru!"

The shock and disbelief that gripped the six unaware individuals left them speechless. Each was attempting to make sense of what they were seeing before them. Soun, who always believed Nodoka was not treated fairly by his training partner and friend, wondered just what sort of relationship Nodoka and the university student had. Nabiki always wanting to be in the know about everything and everyone that passed through her home wondered what else Auntie Nodoka had kept from them. Akane wondered what other major events could come crashing through their front door. Genma silently demanded to know just who the man called Mamoru was in relation to his wife and if he was going to have to knock some heads in because of it. Kasumi wondered if anyone else was going to want to have tea. And Ranma, Ranma wondered if he really knew his mother at all.

It was Kasumi that brought everyone back to the scene unfolding before them when in a very Kasumi-like manner she spoke two words, "Oh my."

This lead Nabiki to voice the question she was sure was on the minds of practically everyone in the living room of the Tendo home, "Auntie just what is this Mamoru-san to you?"

"Tell me boy how do you know my wife and why do you want to see her," Genma then demanded.

Trying hard to diffuse the situation before it ever got out of hand Nodoka explained Mamoru's presence to Genma, "Husband, Mamoru is an orphaned boy I took care of for ten years of his life while you took our son who knows where and to China and back in the name of your school of martial arts."

It was all too much for Ranma. Ukyo had been right that afternoon at lunch. His life was due for an upheaval once more and there it was standing near the dining table in the living room of his fiancé's house. Frustrated, confused, and still making assumptions left and right Ranma let out a loud grunting groan as he turned to face his mother. "You replaced me," he questioned her loudly.

Not wanting to deal with the whole situation any longer Ranma turned and headed for the dojo. Before leaving the living room he gave Mamoru a small piece of his mind, "I just got her back into my life. She's my mother not yours. You had her for ten years so don't you go worming your way into her life anymore pal."

As he watched the retreating form of his foster mother's son Mamoru sighed and let out a comment, "Well, that didn't turn out like I thought it would."


	3. Meet Your New Roommate

Replaced. Strike the training dummy. Replaced. Jump into the air, double roundhouse kick, twist, land, and double fist strike. Replaced. Triple kick into a twisting double roundhouse kick, land, and right uppercut. Replaced. Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Replaced. The word kept echoing through Ranma's head. As it did, the water cursed martial artist used the feelings associated with it to fuel the intense katas he was running through. Performing a high flip kick that turned into a twist with an elbow to the gut and a flip of the opponent that he adapted from several different local martial artists Ranma displayed the true philosophy of the Saotome-Ryu of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu.

As he was about to start in on a particularly long series of flips, kicks, twists, and punches he called a basic warm-up kata, Ranma heard a loud whistle in complete awe. His concentration broken, Ranma turned towards the source of the sound to find Mamoru standing in the doorway to the Tendo family dojo. The look on his face showed he had seen enough of Ranma's anger fueled kata session to be very impressed with the skill he displayed.

"Wow, you have some major talent there," Mamoru commented awed by the skill Ranma showed.

Looking towards Mamoru with a look of anger and mistrust upon his face, Ranma sized up the slightly older man. He was in good shape; there was no doubt about that from the frame of his body. However, Mamoru was not a martial artist. Ranma could tell by the way the older man held himself that he was just an average man, or so he was lead to believe. In Ranma's head he figured Mamoru was the type of health nut who jogged for miles every morning and ate steamed rice, a single tamagoyaki, and pickled vegetables for breakfast. To Ranma, Mamoru was nothing more than a mother stealing pest that he would now be compared to for a measure of manliness for the rest of his life.

"Of course I have talent. I'm the best martial artist around," Ranma boasted inflating his ego.

Mamoru let out a sigh and silently cursed Serenity for allowing Usagi's trademark habit of going after someone who was visibly upset to make things right to rub off on him. It was a trait he never had before he and Usagi began seriously dating after Chibiusa became a major possibility in their lives.

"Look Ranma, I'm not here to try and take your mother from you. And I'm not here to make you look bad in her eyes," Mamoru tried to explain; "You were never replaced or tossed aside in her heart in favor of me. The authorities couldn't find any family to take me in and they were about to ship me off to some government run boys' home when your mother fought them to let her take me. The entire time I lived with her she did all she could to try and find you. But, she couldn't very well leave town to go chasing after every lead she received when she was responsible for me."

Ranma's stance visibly relaxed when he heard Mamoru's words. Something in the back of his head was telling Ranma to trust that Mamoru was telling him the truth. Something was telling Ranma that his mother had not been spending twelve and a half years of her life sitting around her home sharpening the family honor blade while wearing a kimono so she could honorably slit his throat for being unmanly. His mother had moved on with her life and yet she never once forgot about the son her husband had taken from her in the name of the family art.

While he might have believed that Mamoru was telling the truth, Ranma was not about to start liking the slightly older man. Mamoru was closer to his mother than he was and that bothered Ranma. Ranma barely knew the woman who had given him life because of Genma's obsession with the arts. Keeping a hard look on Mamoru, Ranma tried to read the older man's intentions for being at the Tendo home. If he was not there to try and take top spot in Nodoka's life then there had to be another reason for the university student's visit.

"If you ain't here to make me look second best in my mom's eyes then just what the heck are ya doing here," Ranma demanded to know as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Mamoru leaned against the frame of dojo doorway, placed his thumbs in his pockets, and let a soft sigh escape his mouth, "I came here to see your mother for the first time in three years. My life is finally going good again and I wanted to make good on a promise to her. I didn't want to have her mixed up in all the things going on with my life at the time."

Oh Brother!

Part 3: Meet Your New Roommate

The adults in the living room of the Tendo home sat in silence looking back and forth at one another. Rather, it was Soun who sat on one side of the dining table looking back and forth between Genma and Nodoka. While Soun and Genma were friends and training partners, they were not the closest of friends. Soun often and openly criticized his fellow practitioner of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu for the way he treated his wife. It was his belief that Genma should have been more considerate of his wife's feelings and taken Ranma home to visit her regularly during their long training journey. However, while he openly voiced this opinion there was nothing he could do to make Genma apologize to his wife for running out on her for thirteen years with their son.

"Nodoka just who is that boy and what is he doing here," Genma demanded to know breaking the silence that had befallen the living room.

"Well this should be good," Nabiki commented to her sisters from their kitchen hiding spot.

The Tendo daughters watched their father play referee for a fight between Ranma's parents that was likely to take place from the safety of the kitchen. Kasumi had insisted on giving the Saotomes privacy to talk things out. However, that did not mean the girls were forbidden from watching things unfold. Akane and Nabiki's curiosity about Mamoru was just too strong for them to completely ignore the possible verbal confrontation.

Nodoka took a sip of the tea Kasumi had made for the parents before replying to her husband's demand. She had a fairly good idea of what was running through the man's head where Mamoru was concerned. She figured Genma thought Mamoru was a young suitor she cheated on him with. "A few months after you left with Ranma I began to volunteer at the local hospital in the children's department when some of the other wives in the neighborhood said I needed to stop moping around the house and do something with my life. At first, it was just reading books to the children and spending time with them as they drew pictures and played with the toys. Then it turned into being a comforting grown up in place of a working parent while the doctor gave them their shots. It was like that for fifteen months," Nodoka began.

"Then one particularly stormy August night the emergency workers brought in a little six-year-old boy who was in pretty bad shape. Somehow, he had survived a very nasty car crash but he wasn't about to walk out of the hospital the next morning. The boy had a head injury, a very badly bruised and swollen ankle, and a fractured collar bone. We learned the boy was the only survivor in the crash and the passengers in the front of the car were his parents.

To make things worse, the boy had no memory of anything before he woke up in the hospital hours later except for his name and birthday. That little boy was Mamoru Chiba and the night his parents died in the car crash that took his memories was his birthday. The staff and volunteers in the children's department felt awful for little Mamoru's situation and since I was living alone at the time I volunteered to spend nights with him because of the vivid nightmares he kept having. After a while, I grew attached to Mamoru and accompanied him to his physical and occupational therapy sessions each day. Mamoru too was forming an attachment to me as time went on," Nodoka told the men.

Soun raised a questioning eyebrow at Nodoka's story and voiced the question he was certain was on the mind of his associate that was on his own, "So what happened when it was time for Mamoru-san to leave the hospital? Surely he had some relatives the authorities could send him to."

"That was just it; the authorities could not track down any family with the only witness to the crash unable to remember any of it. Mamoru's parents were so badly mangled there was no way to properly identify them. The authorities were going to send Mamoru to a boys' home so I offered to take him in and nearly had to fight with his case worker to let it happen. He lived with me for ten years before he moved to the Azabu-Juban neighborhood to attend high school there. We kept in contact regularly until about three years ago when it just stopped. Today was the first time I've seen him since he was seventeen," Nodoka explained.

Soun looked from Nodoka to his friend. From the look on Genma's face he could tell the rotund man did not like hearing his wife had taken in someone else's child while he was out training Ranma. Genma had some mixed up notions about a wife's duty to her home and family and being a foster parent to an orphan boy did not fit into Genma's view of a traditional Japanese wife. From what Soun had witnessed Genma felt it perfectly fine to subject his family to the roles of the perfect traditional Japanese family if it meant having a son who was the best martial artist around. Genma was not the type of man to easily forgive his wife if he felt she went against his ideals of the perfectly obedient Japanese wife.

What happened next was exactly what Nabiki had silently predicted. A full blown shouting match between husband and wife greeted Ranma and Mamoru when they finally returned from the dojo. In the middle of it was Soun trying desperately to get the couple to calm down and discuss things rationally. The Tendo patriarch feared that like his arguments with Ranma Genma would raise his hand to Nodoka something he was strongly opposed to. In Soun's opinion a husband never struck his wife outside of a sparring session or martial arts lesson.

"You betrayed your duties as Ranma's mother woman," Genma yelled towering over Nodoka.

"What was I to do sit around my house for thirteen years while you were off who knows where with my only child and wait for you two to come back," Nodoka shot back.

Genma balled his fists in anger ready to strike Nodoka the instant he thought she was getting out of hand with him as he voiced his sexist thinking to everyone present, "That's exactly what you were supposed to do!. The woman's job is to keep the house and remain faithful to her husband not go off and take in someone else's kid!"

Knowing the argument between them was threatening to become physical and knowing she could not fight back like Ranma Nodoka countered with the only thing she knew that could end the verbal fight, "You know maybe I should make you go through with that pact for all the things you did to our son while you were gone with him. The blade's plenty sharp enough to cut through your fat neck husband."

"You wouldn't dare," Genma challenged as his face paled at the threat of the pact being fulfilled, "You wouldn't!"

Soun knew things were about to get very ugly between the couple. The seppeku pact had not been mentioned in the months since Ranma had saved his mother's life. For Nodoka to bring it up meant she was afraid that Genma would use physical force on her or worse go after Mamoru. Soun was about to step in and stop the fight when in true Ranma Saotome fashion Ranma handled the argument the only way he knew how.

"Why don't you cool off old man," Ranma told Genma as he booted the plump martial artist through the open doors of the living room into the koi pond in the garden.

Mamoru stood in the entry to the living room from the dojo not believing what he had just witnessed. With one well-placed kick Ranma sent his father flying out the open living room door to a garden fish pond. He had expected the father to emerge from the pond wet from head to toe. What he did not expect was a large fat panda to emerge in his place. Mamoru was used to people turning into creatures with magic but he had never seen anyone change with simple water.

"What the… How did… Nodoka-san," Mamoru stammered questioning if he had actually seen what had taken place.

Dinner at the Tendo household was a quiet affair that night. Soun had insisted Mamoru be their guest for dinner to which the university student gladly accepted. Genma, who was human once more, sat as far from Nodoka as possible on the Saotome side of the table during the meal. Ranma not wanting his pop to try something funny that night ran defense sitting next to Genma. Mamoru, at Nodoka's insistence, sat between her and Ranma.

On occasion during the meal, the silence would be broken by questions from Soun, Nabiki, or Nodoka directed at Mamoru. At first it was simply to get to know the young man better and find out what he was doing with his life. However, the questioning soon became a way for Nodoka to deflect attention away from her verbal altercation with Genma. Nodoka did not want Ranma to know things were slowly deteriorating between his parents. Genma and Nodoka had hoped moving the family back to Nodoka's house would help fix things but living together only served to make things worse between husband and wife.

Ranma knew something was wrong between his parents. He did not know how bad things were becoming but he knew the verbal fighting had been increasing. Ranma figured it was due to the whole engagement ring mess never once thinking that there had been fourteen years of problems between his parents. As he quickly stabbed at a piece of fish, Ranma watched as his father glared at Mamoru as though he wanted to break the university student's arms. Ranma may not have liked the guy but he was not about to strike a blow at someone who had nothing against him and tried to be on good terms with him.

"Furinkan has two months of summer break coming up and I'm certain you have time between semesters Mamoru. Maybe it would be nice if Ranma stayed with you during that time. My boys do need to get to know each other if Mamoru is going to be visiting regularly again" Nodoka announced out of the blue.

Ranma nearly choked on the teriyaki vegetable he had put into his mouth as he heard his father speak for the first time during dinner, "I strictly forbid it Nodoka. I forbid Ranma to have any contact with this man. I forbid this Mamoru from visiting you again. When school ends Ranma and I will be going on a training trip."

Just as she had done before dinner Nodoka snapped back at Genma, "You just don't want to face the fact that something is wrong with our marriage! I didn't want to burden Ranma with all of this but I had hoped to use that time for us to get some real help!"

"Our marriage is fine," Genma argued.

Trying hard to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes Nodoka made the truth known to the younger people around the dinner table, "Our marriage is failing Genma Saotome and it has nothing to do with my taking Mamoru into my home or what happened to Ranma during your extended training journey. It's failing because something is terribly wrong between you and me and you won't admit it."

Ranma, Mamoru, and Soun's daughters wanted to say something anything but it was Soun who acted the voice of reason in all the chaos, "Saotome, you're not going on another summer training journey with Ranma. Your wife needs you here. Ranma, maybe it is for the best that you spend the summer with Mamoru-san. I'm sure you won't mind having a guest for the summer Mamoru-san. It would help Nodoka out greatly."

The words Soun Tendo spoke weren't suggestions but rather commands and the slight rise in his chi levels had proven that he would not take no for an answer. Ranma swallowed a knot in his throat that had formed not wanting to deal with Soun's demon head that night. Next to him Genma visibly sweated knowing his friend's true strength. From his position at the table Mamoru felt compelled to go along with whatever the Tendo patriarch said and simply nodded.

"I guess we're going to be roommates this summer," Mamoru quietly said to Ranma.

Letting out a heavy sigh Ranma turned to the slightly older man and gave his reply, "Gee great."

Summer break was going to be an eventful one.


	4. My Not So Peaceful Summer

Author's Note: Quick note here before we dive into chapter four. Timeframe for the story. For Ranma after the failed wedding and Nodoka's house is messed up by Ukyo and Shampoo. For Sailor Moon it takes place after the series and before Usagi and Mamoru marry. Will Ranma transform into an armored warrior or Sailor Terra? I'm leaning towards the first but don't rule out the suggestion of the second coming up when the curse is found out. Ranma and Akane? For now yes but at the moment I'm at the very least putting them on better terms as friends first. Character driven? To a degree. I don't want it to be a heavy piece like Empire of the Sun, an older story sitting in my list of favorite stories on .

Do I own any of this? Just the plot of the story and maybe any non-canon baddies that arise. The honor of coming up with the wacky cast of Ranma and one of the defining mahou shojo series of the Nineties go to Rumiko Takahashi and Naoko Takeuchi. They own the characters. I'm just tossing them together like a Portillo's chopped salad. That said, keep reading; keep enjoying; and I challenge you to plug the song Mother Nature's Son into Pandora and see what comes up.

The residents of Azabu-Juban were very grateful the day the Azabu-Juban station opened along both the Tokyo Metro Namboku and Toei Ōedo lines. It meant not having to take a bus to the Roppongi station to get anywhere on the Tokyo Metro and Toei Ōedo lines. It also meant that Azabu-Juban was connected to Nerima by way of an underground transfer and a weird sideways six shaped hooking loop. It was that line and that platform where Ranma Saotome would be introduced to the world in which Mamoru Chiba now resided.

Summer in Tokyo meant students from kindergarten to fourth year university and college would have two months between new term semesters to relax, unwind, and spend time with family and friends. For average everyday high school students throughout Tokyo it meant going over to friends' houses, playing video games, shopping, hanging out at neighborhood eateries, and attending festivals. However, the girls standing on the subway platform with the overly nervous university student were far from the average everyday high school students.

Usagi Tsukino and her four best friends in the world had seen death and survived several times before the end of their first year of high school. Their adventures together protecting the people of Tokyo from energy sapping demons from their past, a futuristic kingdom with a grudge, a dark demonic circus, rouge royalty, rouge planetary soldiers, and the embodiment of evil itself turned five strangers into the best of friends. Their adventures had also brought together two perfect soul mates.

The five girls helped each other through the major hurdles in their lives. From first dates to getting into high school Usagi and her friends had supported one another through it all. Now they turned their attention to helping the lone male in their group. Their focus was going to be placed on Mamoru's guest for the summer, his foster mother's son a boy named Ranma.

"I feel so bad for him. From what the family he's been staying with have told me, his parents have been fighting constantly. Apparently, daily fights are pretty common in their neighborhood in Nerima but that's usually the odd martial arts challenge not someone's father almost taking the backside of his hand to his wife's face when she barely has any martial arts training," Mamoru commented to the girls with a sigh.

Usagi and Minako could not imagine anyone's parents constantly fighting day in and day out. Sure their parents argued but that was over minor things and they usually made up afterwards. Every couple had their arguments, even Usagi and Mamoru. According to Usagi's mother, Ikkoku, the occasional argument between couples was healthy as long as they communicated with each other to settle their differences. However, what Ranma's parents were doing was definitely not healthy.

It was Ami who understood what Ranma was going through. Divorce was taboo in Japan and usually seen as a slight to the honor of a married couple. While her parents loved each other and thought they were ready for marriage, they could not handle what being married had to bring. Her mother's schedule at the hospital coupled with her father's graphic arts job at the time had put a great strain on their marriage. They had tried all they could to fix their marriage through counseling and help from their families but in the end instead of remaining married for the sake of their honor they divorced for the sake of their daughter. The day her father moved out of their condominium was the last day Ami had ever seen her father.

"All that arguing and fighting all the time. I don't know how anyone could stay in good spirits with it going on," Minako remarked.

"It's his dad's friend and his daughters I feel bad for. They took in Nodoka-san and her family while her house is under repair and they're the ones that have to deal with the fighting," Mamoru added recalling what Nabiki had told him the last time he called the Tendo home.

The girls tried not to dwell on the domestic problems between Ranma's parents and decided to focus on how they were going to spend their summer with him. As far as they knew, Ranma was the average teen who was into martial arts. What they did not know was that the last fourteen years of his life were devoted to nothing but martial arts. Ranma did not know how to be a normal teenager.

Oh Brother!

Part Four: My Not So Peaceful Summer

Ranma sighed as he adjusted the rather large pack on his back. If Genma had his way the pair would be hiking through the Yamanashi Prefecture in the Chubu Region on their way to a mountain village to train for the summer. However, Soun had convinced his friend and training partner to let Ranma move to the Azabu-Juban district in the Minato ward for the summer. There was no saying no when Soun Tendo threatened to unleash his demon head. And so, Ranma found himself that morning on the Toei Ōedo subway line, freshly made box of daifuku from Kasumi in hand, making the fourteen mile trip from Nerima to Azabu-Juban.

Leave it to Kasumi to think a box of homemade daifuku would be the perfect icebreaker with Mamoru-san. She wanted him to be on good terms with the university student. He was not at fault for what happened when he was a child Kasumi had reminded him. Besides, as Kasumi told him the day before, there was the very good possibility that his mother might have Ranma transfer schools before the new term began. That thought in itself was both comforting and worrisome to Ranma.

The soft sing song ding dong bell drew Ranma's attention to the electronic sign above the doors of the subway car as an automated overly cheerful female voice announced the station, "Azabu-Juban station next stop Akabanebashi station. Mind the gap. Mind the gap."

Letting out a held breath Ranma followed the throngs of office workers, embassy officials, and shoppers out of the subway car before it closed. "Well, it's now or never," Ranma commented to himself as he waited for the crowd to thin out.

"Do you see him?" Ami asked the taller Makoto when the crowd exited the subway car.

Makoto, with her hand shielding her eyes as though it would help her see better, scanned the crowd as she responded to Ami's inquiry, "There's too many people."

There were too many people indeed. It was the perfect recipe for confusion and chaos. It was the perfect environment for someone or something to attack in the busy crowd. If the station were Iidabashi the attacker would have been the typical street gang member or thug with a switchblade or baseball bat. If the station were Nerima then the attacker would have been a martial artist with a grudge practicing a very strange art. However, the station happened to be in Azabu-Juban the monster and demon capital of Tokyo. What attacked the crowd at the subway station was not human.

The creature stood eight feet in height and had luminescent scales covering its body that shimmered like the wings of a dragonfly. The creature appeared humanoid in basic body structure but had two insect like antenna sprouting from the crop of dark sea green hair on top of its head. The eyes of the creature, oval in shape and larger than a normal human's, appeared to change color with each turn of its head. In the middle of its forehead was a large black gemlike crystal. The loud guttural roar from the monster sent what was left of the crowd in the subway into a panic.

"This is just great," Makoto and Ranma commented at the same time from their separate locations within the subway station.

"We need to find someplace to transform," Minako added.

Rei took a quick assessment of their current situation finding no safe way to get through the crowd to station's public washrooms, "In this mass panic? I don't think that's going to be very easy."

"What is that thing?" Mamoru wondered.

Ami, already scanning the creature with her microcomputer, gave a quick analysis of it, "It appears to be something related to the Daimon but not quite. Whatever it is, this creature is fast and strong."

Usagi let out a sigh resigning herself to the fact that they had no choice but to transform where they stood, "We don't have any choice then I guess."

The girls were about to transform when Makoto noticed someone rushing the creature, "Uh guys, I think someone else is dealing with that monster."

"Ranma," Mamoru questioned in disbelief at what he was seeing.

It was just great indeed. No sooner had Ranma began scanning the crowd for signs of Mamoru and the friends and fiancé he wanted him to meet a strange eight foot tall monster began attacking the remaining crowd. Throwing down his pack next to a nearby pillar, Ranma rushed the strange creature using every bit of martial arts skill he possessed. The words of Nabiki, from the night before, were fresh on his mind as Ranma made his first move and assaulted the creature with a Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken.

"Ranma you do realize Mamoru-san lives in the monster capital of Tokyo. People have been reporting a whole number of strange creatures there for the last three years," Nabiki had told him.

"Listen whatever you are," Ranma said as he leapt into the air to place a roundhouse kick to the creature's head, "I wanted a quiet summer not all this craziness in my life again."

The creature attacked back extending the nails upon its fingers into deadly claw-like weapons and used them to slash at Ranma. Ranma barely avoided the frenzied hacks and slashes as they made contact with his red Chinese shirt tearing a small hole into the sleeve.

"Hey! This is my favorite shirt," Ranma yelled at the monster as he began to focus his chi.

From her spot on the subway platform Rei could feel the increase in Ranma's chi levels as her naturally honed danger sense kicked in. Years of living at her grandfather's temple had taught Rei how to feel the chi around her and read what emotions were locked within it for purposes of meditation, fortunetelling, and spiritual guidance. The amount of sheer confidence Rei felt coming off of Ranma was incredible. The golden glow making its way down to his leg was absolutely amazing.

"No way, he's figured out how to physically manifest his chi," Rei remarked visibly awestruck.

"Eat Ryusekyaku creep," Ranma announced as he leapt up and kicked the monster in the head with his chi enhanced leg.

Mamoru and the girls winced as they heard the sickening snap of the monster's neck. The head of the creature had twisted around to face behind it. Just when the girls thought the creature was done for they heard another sickening snap as it turned its head back into its original position. The sound was more than enough to make a few of the more squeamish members of the group nearly throw up their lunch.

"Okay that was sick and gross," Minako commented as they watched Ranma send a roundhouse kick to the creature's chin followed by a quick kick to its gut.

The monster went flying into the wall with a loud crunching thud as it slid down to the concrete floor of the subway platform. The moment its bottom hit the floor, the monster stood up and began focusing its energy; the black crystal on its forehead glowing. As Ami continued to monitor the monster from the stunned sidelines, its scales flashed as the monster sent a blast of energy towards Ranma.

Ranma was barely able to dodge the blast from the monster receiving another hit to the air. Wincing in pain from the slight burn that formed on his arm, Ranma quickly rolled out of the way as the monster attempted a second energy blast. Jumping to his feet Ranma began focusing his chi once more. Ranma knew he had to put an end to the creature and a well-placed Mōko Takabisha would be more than sufficient to get the job done.

"Okay that one hurt ya oversized lizard reject. It's time to end this little fight because I have people to meet and places to go. Mōko Takabisha!" Ranma said before attacking the monster with his chi attack.

The chi blast struck the monster square in the head sending it back towards the wall it had crashed into. The moment the creature hit the wall the black crystal in the monster's forehead split in two. Without the crystal in its forehead the creature disintegrated into a pile of organic dust. Worn from the attack and the resulting fight Ranma stood in his final position clutching his burnt arm breathing heavily.

Stunned and in shock by what they had witnessed the girls stood on the subway platform wide eyed not saying a word. Ami was quickly typing on her microcomputer trying to figure out what it was that had attacked the crowd on the subway platform. Makoto was in awe of the martial arts skill she saw the young man identified as Ranma display. Rei kept wondering just how Ranma was able to physically manifest his chi and if he could teach her the same. Minako had but one thought running through her head, he's cute.

After grabbing his pack, and the box of daifuku that were somehow still intact, Ranma turned to face the only other people left on the subway platform, Mamoru-san and his group of friends. "Sorry about that," Ranma apologized with a goofy grin and a slight nervous chuckle as though he was at fault for the fight.

"Wow, I had some idea you were good but I didn't know you were that good," Mamoru remarked still in awe over the display of martial arts skill Ranma had demonstrated.

With the slight boost to his ego Ranma straightened his stance and flashed Mamoru and his friends an overly confident smile. "I told you I was the best around," Ranma boasted.

Mamoru chuckled slightly at the confident boasting as he shook his head. Without wasting any time Mamoru began introducing Ranma to Usagi and the girls each one giving him a nod of the head as their name was mentioned. "Ranma, I'd like you to meet five of the closest friends any guy could ever ask for. This is my fiancé Usagi Tsukino, the girl genius Ami Mizuno, the Shinto priestess Rei Hino, the fiercely independent Makoto Kino, and the hopeless romantic Minako Aino. Girls, this is Ranma Saotome."

Ever willing to make a new friend, Usagi grabbed Ranma's hand for a western styled greeting and welcomed him to Azabu-Juban, "Ranma welcome to Azabu-Juban. I hope you'll enjoy your summer here with us."

The crystal clear pool reflected the tiny bit of light in the dark cavernous room like a mirror. The figure standing before it watched as the young man defeated the reptilian scaled creature. A sneer fell across the figure's face over the first of its creatures defeated by a human boy. The idea that a mere human could defeat one of its mighty creations infuriated the figure. There had been only one time when humans dared to fight the figure's army of monstrous creations and loyal followers, when the figure fell to the sons of Endymion.

"So the sons of Endymion are alive. This time mighty princes of the golden field and protectors over the landlings you will die at the hands of my great army. The realm of the landlings shall be mine by right," the figure said as a golden brown wing fluttered in the pool's light.


	5. I Must Be Dreaming, Again

Author's Note: June 23: I did some minor tweaking of the chapter here because upon further reading the ending I had felt like I was pushing things too fast. I kind of want things to happen gradually between Ranma and Mamoru and I pushed things a little too soon forgetting that Mamoru has a memory of his past life the consistency of emmental cheese and not gruyère cheese. He wouldn't just know simply because he's Endymion reincarnated but he would hope that it was that possibility until it was certain. So I'm going to flesh that out a bit more.

Before we begin this rather long chapter I wanted to explain a couple of things. The flashbacks that appear in this chapter take place before the first romance of Endymion and Serenity as written by Takeuchi in the first two volumes of the Sailor Moon manga. Any characters bearing any resemblance to the Joketsuzoku, the Musk, and the Phoenix people are intended to be that way as they will be the ancient ancestors of the iconic characters Takahashi created. The names I have given the ancient Phoenix People (referred to as Bird People in the time of the Golden Kingdom) follow Takahashi's pun of naming them after Indian foods and spices. Don't worry if your favorite characters aren't getting much screen time yet they'll show up in subsequent chapters. So sit back, relax, enjoy, and remember to take time in your day to listen to some good music.

Deep within the Byankala Mountains the battle raged on. The army of the Bird People and the elite forces of the Golden Kingdom had been locked in war for nearly a year. The elite unit made of the top warriors and soldiers within the Golden Kingdom held their ground as the Bird People attacked from the air using their weapons and magic against them. The strange black eggs possessed by the Bird People allowed them to capture humans and turn them into monstrous creatures to carry out their will. Anyone turned by the Bird People were considered lost to humanity and killed by destroying the black crystals imbedded in their foreheads.

Orion had been given the great honor of working closely with the Butai an elite force that knew the Byankala like the back of their hand. The men and women who made up the Butai treated one another like brothers and sisters both in and out of combat. It was this level of closeness shared by the Butai that allowed them to be a powerful and effective fighting unit in service to the royal family of the Golden Kingdom.

"We believe the Bird People are being led by a warrior mage named Raita from atop this mountain," Sage, the commander of the Butai, told Orion as he pointed to an unnamed mountain in Byankala range on the charts laid out before them.

Bura Shu, affectionately nicknamed Brush by Sage and the second in command, added her own gathered intelligence to the report they were giving the young prince, "It is also believed that the power of Jusenkyo resides in the natural spring within the caverns of the mountain. We think this is how Raita and his followers gained their birdlike form many years back."

Orion nodded acknowledging he understood the information given to him. The war had taken a nasty turn when raids from the Bird People upon the villages in the valleys of Byankala increased in frequency causing the need for Endymion to join his brother in combat. Diplomacy had failed and action and force appeared to be the only option left for the forces of the Golden Kingdom. Orion believed that combat was the only thing the Bird People understood and vowed to stop them from terrorizing other villages in the valleys. It was a vow he made after saving the life of a young woman whose entire family had been turned by the Bird People.

Qiao stood a head shorter than Orion with eyes the color of a bright blue sky and a head of fiery red hair. She considered herself to be a fighter despite her father's objections to his daughter learning to fight with a wooden sword and shoot a bow and arrow from her best friend's older brother. The day the Bird People overran her village Qiao picked up a real sword for the first time in her life as her family, friends, and fellow villagers were either killed or turned by the Bird People one by one. Qiao had managed to hold the Bird People at bay with her bow and arrows but it was not enough.

The Bird People were about to use their black egg to trap and turn Qiao when Orion and the Butai arrived at the village to do battle with them. As the Butai fought off the humans turned monsters, Orion dealt with a Bird Woman about to send a black egg towards Qiao. The battle was messy and the Butai barely managed to defeat the monstrous villagers. In his battle, Orion had been unable to defeat the Bird Woman but he managed at the very least wounding her to the point of driving her out of the village. In the end, Qiao was all that remained of her village and out of gratitude for her savior she became Orion's unofficial, and very loyal, apprentice.

Oh Brother!

Part Five: I Must Be Dreaming…Again

Quaint, that was a very polite way of saying Mamoru Chiba lived in a modest one bedroom apartment with barely enough room to hold four guests. It was also the polite way of saying that Mamoru Chiba did not have the extra bed necessary to house overnight guests. What Mamoru Chiba had was a bedroom, a small kitchen, a living room, and most importantly a western futon couch to go with his coffee table and more traditional looking couch.

Mamoru had purchased the western futon couch after Chibiusa had fallen asleep in his bed during her first visit back to the Twenty-first century. She and Usagi had a fight that had the small pink haired girl running to Mamoru for protection. Mamoru had found himself unable to say no to letting the girl stay with him for a few hours and then took responsibility for her when she fell asleep on his bed. After an uncomfortable night on his hard modern styled leather and metal couch, Mamoru decided he needed something better to sleep on if Chibiusa ever decided to sleep over again. Never did he think the convertible futon couch would become the summer bed of his foster mother's biological son.

"Well, here we are home sweet home. It's not much but it'll do for the next couple of months," Mamoru said as he gave the grand tour, "I hope you don't mind using my western futon couch while you're here. I got it to sleep on after the first time I babysat Usagi's little cousin overnight and my leather couch proved to be not the best thing to sleep on."

Ranma looked over the futon couch and gave a small chuckle. Sure it was a futon, but at least it was a futon off the floor. "Hey, anything beats the old futons the Tendos own," he commented with another chuckle.

Mamoru laughed in response to Ranma's comments on his sleeping arrangements within the Tendo household as he set out to make a pot of tea. There was something about sharing a cup of tea with a guest and potential friend that made it easy for a person to open up and chat about nearly anything. What was true in western tea drinking countries like England was also true in Japan. Tea was something Mamoru had come to love during his time with Ranma's mother. Tea was something that naturally went well with Kasumi's homemade daifuku.

"Why don't you put your pack in the bedroom and we'll learn a bit about each other over some tea," Mamoru suggested.

Awestruck was the only word to describe how the Sailor Senshi felt about what they had witnessed on the subway platform that morning. After having lunch with Mamoru and Ranma at the very elegantly kept neighborhood McDonald's, the girls decided to spend the rest of their afternoon at the temple. The topic of conversation was without a doubt going to revolve around what they had seen Ranma do on the subway platform. It was something no ordinary human should have been able to perform; even with the fourteen years of martial arts training Ranma said he received from his father.

"No ordinary human, not even someone as skilled as Ranma is, should have been able to take down a creature like that," Rei commented as she set out the tea set for her guests.

Slight worry began to show on Usagi's face as the possibility of Mamoru's guest not being human and connected to a new threat crept up in her mind, "You're not suggesting that Ranma's not entirely human are you?"

"The possibility of that being true is something to consider Usagi. My readings from this morning have me quite puzzled. The creature is definitely not related to any past threat we've faced. Add to that some very strange biological readings from Ranma and I wouldn't be surprised if he does turn out to be from another world like the star senshi," Ami said sharing her findings from the attack.

"Well, whatever he is Ranma did some stuff you only hear about in martial arts manga and anime or those special effects heavy action films. Heck, he did stuff I'm sure not even Jackie Chan can do," Makoto remarked her inner martial arts fanatic showing.

From her spot at the table in the temple tea room Minako replayed the morning's events in her mind. There was now the distinct possibility that the senshi might have a new threat on their hands. The moment the girls appeared to have a normal life again someone or something stepped in to remind them they were not normal teenagers. Minako had lived with that fact since she was thirteen and Artimes first gave her the transformation rod that made her the hero of little girls everywhere and the electronic frustration of her princess, Sailor V.

"Guys we have to face the fact that we just might be on the verge of another enemy either trying to take over the universe or kill Usagi for something that happened in the past. I'd like to think this was some random left over Daimon or Youma but things have been way too quiet in Azabu-Juban since the Three Lights left Earth. We're going to have to use every resource we have to figure out if a new threat is around the corner and like it or not that means involving the Outers and Michiru's mirror," Minako said jumping into her role as the commander of Usagi's inner guard.

Oh how he hated the sons of Endymion. Raita seethed as he viewed the morning's fight between his Kaijuu and the younger prince Orion. If his plans for domination over the Golden Kingdom were to come to fruition then the younger prince, Orion, had to be eliminated. The prince had been a thorn in the side of the Bird People not once but twice. Orion had connections to the Bird People that spanned the ages. Raita had seen in the pool how Orion had forced his successor, Saffron, into rebirth leaving the Bird People without a proper king.

Raita's thoughts of revenge were interrupted as the sound of footsteps fell upon the stone floor. The winged figure kneeled before the exiled king looking up at him with green eyes the color of moss. The long high peacock blue ponytail fluttered slightly in the soft breeze within the cavern as the figure's streamlined armor reflected the light of room off it. The figure's wings were a bright green tipped in a deep rose.

"Imarti, my loyal warrior, the time has come to bring down the sons of Endymion for what they have done to us. The time has come to make the landlings of the Golden Kingdom tremble before the might of the immortal Bird People," Raita told the female warrior.

Imarti placed her right fist across her chest and lowered her head in salute to her king, "My lord I will track down the sons of Endymion and with my dark Shikimori Eggs I will give rise to new Kaijuu ready to do your every bidding. This time Endymion's sons will not have the Butai to battle alongside them and they shall fall by my hand in your name."

With a sneer upon his face Raita let out a malicious laugh at the thought of Imarti's Kaijuu terrorizing the people of the landling's kingdom. "Go Imarti. Invade the kingdom of the landlings and see that you do not fail me in destroying Endymion's sons."

The Cat Café was quiet that afternoon. It was too quiet for the likes of its owner and her staff. Mousse sat at a table ladling duck sauce into squeeze bottles for the tables while Shampoo was tasked with filling the salt and pepper shakers. It was a job neither teen was too happy to be doing but they knew it had to be done. Shampoo readily did the task because her great-grandmother had explained it helped maintain a good business and with a good business they would have the money to spend on items that would help make Ranma a member of their village. Mousse did the task out of fear of being struck over the head with Elder Cologne's walking staff or turned into a duck as punishment for failing to listen to her. Sense of duty and great fear were the driving factors in anything the two Chinese teens did for the Cat Café each day.

"Shampoo miss having Ranma around. Nerima is a too too quiet of a place without Airen here for the summer," Shampoo commented with a sigh using improved tourist Japanese.

"I told you when you came back with the news about Ranma from Kasumi Tendo that it wouldn't be right to try and find him in Azabu-Juban in the Minato ward just yet granddaughter. If the eldest Tendo is correct about Ranma's parents then we must proceed with caution," Cologne advised while separating her cooking spices from her medicinal and mystical spices in the day's delivery.

Cologne knew there were other reasons for proceeding with caution where Ranma was concerned. She had yet to tell Shampoo and Mousse but there was a very strong possibility that Shampoo would legally not be allowed to marry Ranma as set out by their village laws. In her morning meditations that day Cologne had seen several images that both disturbed and puzzled her. First, there was Ranma's female side dressed in sleek Chinese armor with what appeared to be a piandao at her waist and a bow and arrows across her back her with her hair pulled high into a bun. Then, there was the woman with hair a very close color to Shampoo's in the same double bun style dressed in the traditional clothing of the Joketsuzoku warriors. However, where Shampoo had violet eyes she had rose colored eyes. Finally, there was the image of Ranma. This was the vision that puzzled Cologne the most.

The clothing Ranma wore in the vision was unlike anything she had ever seen him wear. The top of the outfit reminded Cologne of a western naval officer's jacket with its banded collar. The entire outfit was black, formal, and sleek with accents around the collar, cuffs, and front of the shirt's top in gold and dark blue. There were pauldrons and a plackart in a gold plated metal along with greaves, poleyns, and sabatons in black to match the knee length leather boots on his feet. Draped over his shoulders Ranma wore a long black cape lined in the same dark blue as on his uniform. His hair was in the ever familiar braided queue yet it was longer than she remembered. In his hands Ranma held a rather impressive looking staff with a flat blade on one end and a nasty looking spear tip at the other.

What puzzled Cologne further was the fact that her visions included a faceless man dressed in the style of the Musk, several females in the shadows in what looked like short skirts, the figure of a man dressed similar to Ranma, and the Byankala mountain range. Ranma, the mystery man, his female side, her ancestor, and the ancient Musk all had a very strong connection to the Byankala. What all this meant and why she knew it would ultimately decide Shampoo's future with Ranma was a great mystery, one that she was determined to figure out.

He was dreaming. It was not the dreams of being late to high school and realizing you forgot your pants when you got to school. It was not being locked in the Crown after Motoki forgot he was still in the building. The dream Mamoru Chiba was having felt exactly the same as the prophetic dreams that plagued his sleep when he first discovered he was Tuxedo Mask. However, the dream Mamoru Chiba was experiencing that night was being shared by the young man sleeping on his western futon couch. Ranma Saotome was having his first prophetic and utterly confusing past life memory leaking dream.

If there was anyone Orion wanted in battle with him it was his older brother Endymion. While the Butai were a very competent fighting unit, Orion and Endymion had an unspoken language that allowed the brothers to be quick and accurate. However, the brothers would not be going into battle alone. As much as Endymion did not like the idea, the village girl Qiao had insisted on joining them in their raid to take back the springs of Jusenkyo from the Bird People.

"She's untested in battle Orion. I like her but she's just too young for this. She's still a child," Endymion reasoned with his brother.

Orion ran his whetstone over the blade of his guan dao focused solely on the blade's edge as he gave his reply, "Look I'd wish she'd remain an innocent child using her bow for hunting sika and her blade for skinning and cutting meat. However, Qiao seems intent on following the warrior's path and she just will not leave my side. Even if I said no she'd still follow me into battle."

Endymion let out a sigh at the thought of an innocent girl from a valley farming village who was never meant to be a warrior going down the path of the soldier. In his mind, only those trained to handle the death and destruction war brings were capable of dealing with the mental strain being a soldier brought a person. The Butai, the Shitennou, Queen Serenity's Senshi, and his little brother were trained from an early age to deal with the ravages of war. Little Qiao, from what he had witnessed, still woke up in the middle of the night needing to be comforted by Orion or Brush.

The trio set out before dawn the next morning to begin their attack upon the Kaijuu under the command of Raita's loyal follower Imarti. Orion had not seen the Bird Woman since the attack on Qiao's village and was very eager to ensure she did not have the opportunity to raid any more villages within the valleys. Endymion could tell his little brother might do something rash if given the opportunity. Orion was a very good warrior but he was prone letting his ego get the better of him at times.

"Okay you two we're going to do this mission very simple and very straightforward. I don't want either one of you doing anything stupid. Father would have my head if something happened to you Orion," Endymion told the pair.

With his usual goofy smile plastered across his face Orion assured his older brother everything would go according to plan, "You worry too much Endymion. You forget; I'm the best around."

Endymion responded by letting out a chuckle and rolling his eyes at his little brother's boasting. Qiao looked at the brothers slightly confused by their back and forth with one another not used to being around both princes at the same time.

"You don't have to worry about me your highness. I can take care of myself," Qiao tried to assure Endymion.

An ambush awaited the trio as they reached the springs. What was thought to be a surprise attack turned out to be a nightmare. Imarti and her Kaijuu expected the brothers and their young charge to try and regain the springs for the Golden Kingdom. From the moment their presence was made known the Kaijuu forced the trio into three directions separating them from one another. Endymion was able to hold his own just fine with his sword skills and quickly took out the first of the Kaijuu. At the same time, Orion was able to drive the spear tip of his guan dao into the forehead of a nearby Kaijuu killing the monster.

"May you find eternal peace in Elysium's golden fields," Orion said in prayer as the Kaijuu disintegrated into dust.

Mamoru and Ranma's dreams had been showing the two men images from the same vantage point until that moment. While Mamoru's dream continued to show things from his viewpoint as Endymion Ranma's dream split into two rapidly jumping from Orion's viewpoint to that of Qiao. Every emotion felt by both combatants in the battle with the Kaijuu Ranma felt. Orion's confidence and calm upon the battlefield as he used both his guan dao and his bare fists to bring peace through death to the once human Kaijuu. Then there was Qiao's intense fear as she desperately tried to keep the Kaijuu from killing her.

For Qiao it was a losing battle. She had managed to injure a few Kaijuu with her bow and arrows and somehow killed one with her piandao through sheer luck. However, her right arm had a bad gash making it nearly impossible for the young girl to pull back the string on her bow. Out of the corner of her right eye she witnessed Orion's battle aura grow in intensity as he used it to take down a rather vicious Kaijuu. Out of the corner of her left eye she saw Endymion drive his sword into the jewel of a Kaijuu that resembled a mountain spirit.

Qiao was quickly brought back to her own fight when she felt a sharp claw rake across the front of her armor as though it were mere paper. The sting of the attack caused the inexperienced fighter to cry out in pain as she inched ever closer to the springs of Jusenkyo.

"I won't die on this day," Qiao vowed through clenched teeth as she painfully pulled back the string of her bow, "You can't make me."

With great pain Qiao let her arrow fly. However, the pain of her injuries caused the young girl to miss her intended mark and hit the Kaijuu in the shoulder. The Kaijuu roared in pain before it began lashing out at Qiao with its claws. Qiao desperately tried to dodge the attacks of the Kaijuu failing as its claws connected with her face and shoulder.

"Orion, Qiao's in trouble!" She heard Endymion call out to his brother.

The desperation and fear Ranma felt were no longer coming from Qiao but Orion as he desperately rushed to try and save the life of his young charge. However, Orion would be too late to save Qiao and Ranma would never know what emotions were running through him as the viewpoint switched to Qiao's vantage. Ranma was about to witness his or rather Qiao's very death from her own eyes.

The Kaijuu Qiao had been locked in combat with pressed its advance lashing out once more with its claws. Desperate to stay alive, Qiao drew her piandao from its sheath and tried to strike back at the Kaijuu failing to connect with its flesh. As she continued to swing wildly at the Kaijuu, Qiao felt the sharp claws of the Kaijuu slice into her hand causing her to cry out in pain while her piandao went flying well out of her reach.

Sheer terror fell across Qiao's face as the Kaijuu went in for the final blow. The Kaijuu had calculated its attack to push the village girl ever closer to the springs with each blow. With a sweeping uppercut, as she desperately tried to block the attack, the Kaijuu sent Qiao flying into the spring behind her. The young girl struggled to get above the water but the injuries to her arm, midsection, and shoulder would not let her. Qiao could feel death's darkness creep over her as she saw one final flash of light above the surface of the spring.

Ranma bolted awake with a scream panting as he desperately tried to catch his breath beads of sweat running down his forehead. Quickly looking around he remembered that he was not in the Tendo house and made his way to the small bathroom in Mamoru's apartment. The dream was very vivid and what he had seen felt so real to Ranma. Once in the bathroom, Ranma turned on the faucet to the sink not waiting for it to get warm and splashed his face with the cold water several times. It was not long before Ranma was wet enough to feel the familiar change overtake his body. Looking into the mirror Ranma saw not the female face he had come to accept as a part of himself but the face of the girl that saw him as her hero, mentor, and someone she would follow to the ends of the Golden Kingdom and back.

"I guess the old guide wasn't kidding when he said your story was tragic," Ranma said to her reflection.

The sound of Ranma's cry had abruptly woken Mamoru from his own dreaming that night. Through the crack in his slightly ajar door Mamoru, or rather Endymion as the crown prince happened to still be in control, could see the light coming from his bathroom. Looking at the small bedside clock Mamoru noted that it was nearly half past five and the sun would be rising soon. Mamoru wanted to go to the bathroom and see if Ranma was okay. Ranma, that name did not quite fit the young man sharing his apartment for the summer holiday. Sure he was a wild horse in this life but where Endymion was concerned he was not Ranma he was Orion his younger brother, second prince of the Golden Kingdom, best friend, training partner, and a damn fine warrior.

Sighing softly Mamoru got out of bed, retied the drawstring on his pajama pants, ran his fingers through his hair, and gave his shoulder a scratch as he made his way out of his bedroom. Reaching the all too small bathroom at the end of what really could not be considered a hallway; Mamoru saw a sight that had him stunned beyond belief. There standing in his bathroom wearing men's boxers and a tank top with her hair in the same braided pigtail as Ranma's was the village girl Qiao. Quickly Mamoru checked the living room to see if Ranma was okay and to ask him how the girl appeared in his apartment when he saw no sign of the teen on the western futon couch. It was at that point things became clear to the university student as he and his past self pieced together the puzzle before him. Ranma had been to China during the later stages of his training trip, his father had turned into a panda when knocked into the Tendo's koi pond, there was a red haired girl from his past standing in his bathroom, and Ranma was nowhere to be found. It all made sense. Ranma had found the mystical springs of Jusenkyo and fell victim to their magic.

"I take it you had a pretty intense dream too Rama," Mamoru said gaining Ranma's attention.

Startled by Mamoru's voice, Ranma went into defensive mode instinctively denying she was Ranma Saotome, "What? I...I…I…I'm not Ranma. I'm a girl."

"Ranma, we're the only two people in a locked apartment fifteen floors up. Your father turned into a panda before my eyes the day I first met you. There's no one in the living room right now. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together to figure out that it's you," Mamoru remarked challenging Ranma's denial.

Ranma signed and resigned herself to the fact that Mamoru had figured out one of her more embarrassing secrets. The way he approached her about it told the cursed martial artist that she had nothing to be embarrassed about. Looking the taller man in the eyes Ranma could see that he was concerned for her. He could tell she had been dreaming and that those dreams were eating at her from the inside out.

"For two years I thought this face was the face I would have had if I had been born a girl. For two years I learned to live with this face ass my very own every time I was hit with cold water. But after waking up from those dreams I can't see anything but the face of a dead girl from some ancient Chinese village in the valleys of the Byankala Mountains," Ranma told Mamoru.

Mamoru saw the fear and confusion written upon the face of the girl before him. It was not hard to feel sorry for Ranma in his female state. Mamoru knew all too well what it was like to be assaulted by vivid dreams of the past and to have a flood of memories you weren't certain were your own hit you all at once. The attack in the subway the morning before had definitely triggered some long dormant memories within Ranma's subconscious mind the same way Queen Beryl's attacks on Tokyo had brought forth his own memories.

"Let me guess you've been having dreams about a young red haired Chinese teen that followed you around like a lost puppy in the middle of a war? You saw yourself but you were not yourself and answered readily to the name Orion? And if I'm right I was in your dream as well but you were calling me not only Endymion but brother as well?" Mamoru gently prodded trying to get Ranma to open up to him.

Ranma stared at Mamoru in shock. How had he known what had happened in her dreams? How did he know about Qiao and her being called Orion? How did he know about Orion's older brother Endymion? How? The question played itself over and over in his mind.

"How did you know?" Ranma managed to get out.

"Because," Mamoru began as he let out a sigh, "I think had the exact same dream you did. I don't know if it means anything yet but I do know some people who can at least help you make sense of that dream."

In the back of his mind Mamoru hoped and prayed what he thought had happened that night was true. And if it was maybe just maybe the memories of one of his lives could be whole again.


End file.
